| Last
week Wipro Systems launched a large number of modules
for human resources in Europe under the name i-Desk.
Pratik Kumar, Wipro's Corporate Vice President
of Human Resources, explains the importance of
these modules: "On the one hand you have
the back office which runs under SAP or PeopleSoft,
while our clients use an HR portal at the front
end. In order to offer more functionality, i-Desk
adds modules between these two."
Wipro's i-Desk system was initially only used
within their own organisation. "Many tasks
that are now considered part of HR can easily
be automated, and in times like these that can
be important. We actually developed the system
for our own purposes," says Kumar. "With
eleven thousand employees worldwide, it is important
to develop standards and protocols and to make
them universally available to everyone. Some of
our large corporate clients liked what they saw
of our system, and since then we have been bringing
it out in a modular fashion." The i-Desk
modules have already been successfully marketed
in the United States. "Companies are looking
for ways to work in a cost-effective manner,"
according to Kumar. "Take, for example, the
entering of mileage allowances. If a large organisation
can automate that, it can eliminate a couple of
jobs in the HR department. By implementing several
i-Desk modules we were able to reduce our own
HR department at Wipro by a quarter. We see the
same thing happening with our clients. The ROI
on i-Desk is also very quick."
The client list of Wipro Systems - which together
with Infosys Technologies is India's largest IT
employer - includes big names from the Fortune
100, such as ABN-AMRO. Now it is time to introduce
i-Desk to Europe. Kumar anticipates that the system
will be implemented by five to ten clients in
the Benelux countries. At the moment Wipro Systems
is completing its initial discussions with Dutch
partners. "We are talking with a number of
parties who have clearly demonstrated their ability
to work with large, extensive organisations and
who have a lot of experience in implementing SAP,
Oracle and PeopleSoft. They have the knowledge
and the contacts in this market and they are highly
capable of supporting our products."
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